My Real Friend
by The Only One 21
Summary: Holly takes care of Gail after 4x10


AN: It's been a while since I've written fanfiction but I couldn't get this out of my head. All mistakes are mine. Enjoy and feel free to review.

_"Hey,"_

_ "Hey...Let's get out of here."_

"You OK?" Holly's words break the silence as the pair makes their way out to the parking lot.

"I'm fine." Gail offers a short answer, swallowing passed the lump in her throat.

"Gail," Holly's breathes her name on a sigh. "Hey, stop for a second." The pathologist grabs the back of Gail's jacket as she walks passed her. "We tell each other things, right?"

Gail sighs heavily. She's tired, her head is throbbing, and she's fairly certain she's still a bit high. She just wants to curl up in bed and forget the world for a few hours but the way that Holly is looking at her makes all of that disappear. "Yeah," Gail huffs. "Yeah, just...not here OK?"

Holly nods. "Of course." She glances down at Gail's waist, taking in the kit strapped low on her hips. "Let's get you back to 15 and drop that off."

Gail lets Holly loop an arm through hers and lead her out of the hospital.

* * *

"Gail!"

Gail and Holly look up to see Traci making her way towards them.

The detective stops short of the pair. "How are you doing? Andy just got back." Traci eyes Holly. "I was surprised you weren't with her."

"Yeah well," Gail trails off, not at all interested in telling Traci why she had called Holly to pick her up. She turns back to her locker, grabbing her bag.

"Is everything OK? She was a bit weird when I saw her."

"How should I know?" Gail drops her bag to the floor. "I can't keep up with all the problems that girl has."

Traci is silent for a few beats, knowing that Gail doesn't want to talk about whatever happened between her and Andy. "I talked to Frank, he said you've got two days off."

"I don't need them." Gail can only imagine what her mother would say if she knew Gail had taken time off for a work injury.

"Too bad." Traci shrugs her shoulders. "Frank said if you come in he's sending you right home."

Gail huffs. "Whatever," She bends to pick up her bag, stopping when Holly reaches for it. She watches the pathologist heft the bag up and over her shoulder.

"You got someone to stay with you tonight?" Traci asks as she watches Gail and Holly.

"Um Trace did you miss the fact that I practically live in a frat house?" Gail raises an eyebrow at the detective. "I'll be fine."

"Chris and Dov went camping with Swarek and Ollie." Traci crosses her arms over her chest.

"Oh," Gail absentmindedly picks at the bandages wrapped around her right wrist. She stops when Holly reaches over and gently pulls her hand away. "I'll be fine without them."

"Gail, Andy said the doctor gave you a pretty high dosage of Oxycodone," Traci took in Gail's slightly glazed eyes. "She said you were seriously out of it."

"Yeah, well Andy can stick it in her,"

"Traci's right, Gail." Holly cuts Gail off. "You really shouldn't be alone tonight."

"I don't need a babysitter." Gail growls.

"Not a babysitter." Holly holds her hands up in a calming manner. "Just keeping each other company." She steps closer to Gail, a hand gently finding its way to the officer's back. "Seriously, you can stay at mine tonight."

The way Holly is looking at her, Gail know she doesn't have much choice. She sighs. Too tired to fight a losing battle, she relents. "Fine," Gail mutters. She has to fight a smile at the way Holly beams at her.

"Great!" Holly adjusts Gail's bag on her shoulder. "Ready?"

Gail nods. "Yeah,"

Traci notices the way Gail seems to lean into the arm that's loosely wrapped around her back, suppressing a smirk at her friend's actions. "Call me if you need anything yeah?"

"Yeah, sure," Gail smiles briefly at the detective. "Thanks Trace."

The detective watches the pair leave, shaking her head with a smile.

* * *

Holly watches the way Gail is looking out the window, staring but not seeing. The blonde has been fairly quiet since they've left the hospital, lost in her thoughts. "Do you need to pick anything up from your apartment?"

Gail lolls her head to look over at Holly. She's quiet for a moment and Holly starts to think she's not going to respond. "No," Gail eventually answers. "I just want to sleep...for like three days."

Holly smiles, reaching a hand out and briefly squeezing Gail's hand. "We can do that."

* * *

"You hungry?" Holly pulls open the refrigerator and takes a look. When Gail doesn't answer, she pulls her head out and eyes the blonde. Gail is looking around Holly's living room, taking in the pictures and books. Holly wonders if this is a cop thing or a Gail thing. The woman is insatiably curious. "Gail?"

"Huh?" Gail turns to face Holly. "Sorry, I wasn't listening."

Holly smiles. "Are you hungry?"

"Oh," Gail wraps her arms around her waist, wincing as she brushes her burn. "I guess."

"You guess? You're always hungry." There's a teasing smile adorning Holly's face. "Come on, officer. What do you want?" She leads Gail into the kitchen, depositing the quiet woman on a bar stool.

"I don't know." Gail admits quietly.

Holly watches her, wondering if her answer is referring to something other than food. She lets it pass for the moment. "Hmm, let's see." Holly returns her attention to the refrigerator.

"Surprise me," Gail props her head in her left hand, fighting the sudden tiredness that has come over her. "Just no,"

"Tomatoes, I know you're allergic." Holly interrupts distractedly. "Or eggs, you hate them."

Gail stares at Holly's back, brows furrowed.

She's still staring when Holly straightens and turns back around. "What?"

"You remembered?" It comes out as a question and Holly looks confused for a moment before she catches on to what Gail is talking about.

"That you're allergic to tomatoes and hate eggs? Of course I remembered that. Why wouldn't I?"

Gail shrugs. "Nobody ever seems too."

Holly smiles sadly. At a loss for words she just pushes some fallen hair behind Gail's ear and gently caresses her cheek before turning around. "Grilled cheese?"

"Sure," Gail mumbles.

The women are silent as they eat their sandwiches. Holly finds herself watching the woman across from her. Gail looks tired and there's a sadness visible on her face that Holly doesn't remember being there the last time they hung out.

"What happened earlier at the hospital? With...Andy right?" Holly asks the question before she can check herself. She knows how pushing Gail to talk about something too soon can make the blonde close herself off.

Gail sighs, pushing her empty plate away from her. "She broke the code. She's supposed to be my friend and she just...broke the code." Gail's voice is quiet, her demeanor subdued.

"The code?" Holly questions, her brows furrowed. "What code exactly?"

"The friend code." Gail supplies.

"OK, so how exactly did she break this 'Friend Code'?" Holly is trying to keep up, wishing she knew what was going on in Gail's mind.

"She slept with Nick." When Gail looks up there are tears in her eyes. She blinks furiously, trying to hold them back.

"Oh," Holly knows about the officer's ex-boyfriend. Knows how the man had fallen in love with another officer, Gail's friend, when he was still with Gail. Knows how he had stayed with Gail, somehow thinking that that made everything OK.

"I mean, I'm over him. He's a tool and I don't want him back or anything but I just," Gail trails off, sighing heavily. "She's supposed to be my friend and she just,"

"Broke the code?" Holly supplies.

"Yeah," Gail rubs a hand over her face tiredly. "I feel like she betrayed me or something. It's stupid I know." Gail rushes to add.

"It's not stupid." Holly reaches over the counter and pulls Gail's hand away from her face. "Look it's a totally crappy thing that happened but," She bites her lip, unsure of whether or not to continue.

"But what?" Gail glances down at her hand, still being held by Holly's.

"You can't help who you fall for Gail." Holly looks apprehensively at Gail, waiting for the biting remark she's sure the blonde will hurl at her. When Gail remains quiet Holly continues. "I'm not defending their actions at all cause it sucks, what happened, but," Holly licks her lips quickly. "None of us, not a single person, can help who they fall in love with."

"I guess you're right."

Holly's surprised by Gail's acceptance of her words. She watches as Gail's eyes shimmer with unshed tears. Holly lets go of Gail's hand, before getting up and rounding the counter. She pulls Gail up into a standing position before wrapping her arms tightly around the officer's shoulders.

Gail immediately wraps her arms around Holly's waist. She tenses as she grips at the back of Holly's shirt, the pain in her wrist making itself known again.

Holly pulls back, peering into Gail's face. "Pain medication wearing off?"

Gail nods. "I think so."

"Come on, let's get you some more of the good stuff then off to bed for you."

Gail lets Holly lead her towards the stairs and up to her bedroom.

* * *

Holly knocks on the frame of her open door. "You decent in there, Peck?" Holly's question is greeted with nothing but silence. "Gail?" Silence once again. Holly sighs quietly. "I'm coming in." She warns before she slowly walks into her bedroom.

Gail is in almost the exact same spot Holly left her in ten minutes ago when she went to the bathroom to change into something to sleep in.

"Um," Holly eyes a silent Gail, who is sitting on the edge of her bed wearing nothing but a t-shirt borrowed from Holly and her underwear. "Gail?"

Gail looks up at the pathologist, bleary eyes trying to focus on the face in front of her. "Hey," There is a goofy grin on Gail's face that Holly can't help smirking at.

"You OK?" Holly ventures farther into her room, working her way towards Gail.

"Mmhmm," Gail hums, grin still in place.

Holly crouches down in front of Gail, gazing up into her glossy eyes. "You, Gail Peck, cannot hold your pain meds it seems." Holly knows the dosage of pain meds she gave Gail ten minutes ago is significantly less than what the doctor at the hospital had given her but it seems that Gail is just as heavily affected.

Gail nods lazily. "It is entirely possible that you, Holly Stewart, are correct."

Holly laughs, thoroughly enjoying this silly side of Gail. She yelps in surprise when cold feet come in contact with her bare thighs. She holds them in place to stop them from poking her and finds Gail giggling down at her.

"God your feet are freezing!" Holly squeezes the toes in her grasp.

Gail nods in agreement before a frown works its way onto her face. "I sleep with socks on, Holly."

"OK?" Holly's brows furrow in confusion at Gail's softly spoken words.

"I don't have any clean socks to wear." Gail wiggles her feet that are still loosely held in Holly's hands. "And I like to sleep with socks on."

Gail is pouting and dammit if it isn't the most adorable thing Holly has ever seen. She will however, keep that part to herself fearing the wrath of Gail if she ever even insinuates that the officer is anything remotely adorable.

"You can borrow some of mine." Holly tells Gail, suppressing a laugh when the blonde's demeanor brightens at her words.

Holly straightens up and turns to her dresser. She rummages around before finding the perfect pair of socks. She crouches down in front of Gail and pulls the socks on for her. She sits back on her haunches and admires the blonde's covered feet.

Gail peers down at her feet before meeting Holly's gaze with a bright smile. "Holly, these are, without a doubt, the _gayest_ socks I have ever seen."

Holly laughs. She squeezes Gail's now rainbow covered feet. "I thought you'd appreciate them."

Their laughing is interrupted as music begins blasting from somewhere to Holly's right.

Gail sighs as she rolls her eyes. "Just ignore it. It's Steve."

Holly glances around, trying to find Gail's phone. The device goes silent for a few moments, signaling the call has gone to voicemail, before Steve's personalized ringtone begins playing again.

"Ugh," Gail huffs. "He's so annoying." The phone stops again.

"He probably just wants to make sure you're OK, Gail." Holly tries to reason with the annoyed woman pouting on her bed.

As the phone begins ringing for a third time, Holly leans to her right, fishing Gail's phone out of the officer's discarded uniform pants. She holds the phone out in front of Gail, raising an eyebrow at her.

With an only slightly irritated glare, Gail takes the phone from Holly, swiping to accept the call.

"Hello, brother." Gail answers in a resigned tone.

"_Screening my calls, sister?"_

"Yep," Gail pops the 'p', grinning down at Holly.

"_Traci told me what happened at the scene today. Way to be klutzy."_

Gail can hear the teasing tone to Steve's statement, but in her current state it irritates her more than it normally would. "Oh yes, _Steven_, cause I live to pour industrial drain cleaner on my arm. It was my absolute favorite part of the day."

Holly peers up at Gail in concern. She doesn't like how Gail has gone from happy, if not a little tired, to defensive all in the span of a few moments. She squeezes the woman's ankle, feeling her stomach flutter when Gail sends her a soft smile in reply.

"Ugh god, stop yakking at me!" Gail clearly hasn't been listening to what Steve has been saying. "Look, I'm fine so go ahead and report back to Superintendent Mom."

"_Gail, can you stop being difficult for just once?"_ Gail huffs in annoyance at her brother's words. _"Traci said you're staying with Dr. Stewart tonight?"_ Steve takes Gail's silence as confirmation and continues. _"Can you put her on the phone?"_

"What? Why do you want to talk to Holly?"

Holly looks up at her name, raising her eyebrow as she catches Gail's eye.

"Because_ she's a doctor and she won't act like a petulant five year old when I ask her about what's going on."_

"Whatever," Gail mumbles as she thrusts the phone out for Holly to take. "My _lovely_ brother would like a word with you."

Holly watches Gail as she holds the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"

"_Dr. Stewart hey. Detective Peck, Gail's brother."_ Holly has to resist the urge to roll her eyes in a very Gail-like fashion because she had already gathered as much. _"I just wanted to see how Gail is doing and since she's being a baby I thought I'd talk to you."_

Holly can almost hear the smile in Steve's voice as he speaks, but it does nothing to tamper down the growing irritation she has after seeing Gail's brother put a frown on the woman before her. "She'll be fine. She's got a chemical burn on her right wrist but the doctor at the hospital gave her some pain meds to take home with her."

Steve laughs. _"I'm guessing she's high as a kite right now?"_

Holly chuckles along with the detective. "That she is. I was just getting ready to put her to bed."

"_She's doing OK then? Not being too big of a bitch?"_

Immediately, Holly's hackles rise. "Excuse me?"

"_You know what she can be like. Gail's a handful when she's sober, add in her being higher than the moon and I can imagine she's not too pleasant right now."_

Again Holly can hear the amusement in Steve's voice, but that doesn't stop her jaw from clenching in annoyance. "I don't know if I'd say she's a handful. She's always lovely when I'm with her."

Steve chuckles. _"If you say so."_

Holly knows that Steve is merely teasing his sister, but she doesn't like it. "Hmm. Look, I should go. Gail looks like she's going to fall asleep where she's sitting."

"_Yeah, yeah of course. Give me a call if you guys need anything, hey?"_

"Sure, we'll do that. Good night Detective."

"_Good night Dr. Stewart."_

Holly sets Gail's phone down before rising up on her knees, pressing her hands on the bed on either side of Gail. "You OK?"

"Yeah," Gail's voice is quiet, a frown pulling at her lips. "My brother's an ass."

Holly huffs out a breath as she laughs. "He was just worried...but yeah, he was kinda an ass about it." Holly smiles at Gail.

Gail scoots forward, wrapping her arms around Holly's shoulders and pulling the woman to her.

"Oh," Holly breathes out as she brings her arms up to encircle Gail's waist.

"Thank you," Gail murmurs against Holly's neck.

"For what?" Holly smooths a hand up and down Gail's back soothingly.

"For taking care of me. For not sleeping with my ex-boyfriend."

Holly snorts. "I can honestly say that that will _never_ happen so we're safe on that front." Holly feels Gail smile against her neck.

"And for being the best friend I've ever had."

Gail's voice is so soft that Holly almost misses this last statement. "Thanks for being mine." She murmurs back.

The women are quiet for a few more minutes, just content to be in each other's arms. Holly is the first to pull back. "Let's get you to bed."

"M'K," Gail mumbles, clearly on the edge of sleep already.

Holly helps Gail into a standing position before guiding her to the top of the bed and under the covers. She pulls the sheets up over Gail as the blonde settles back against the pillows.

"Give a shout if you need anything OK?" Holly pushes some stray hair behind Gail's ear.

"Where are you going?" Gail murmurs.

"I'm going to sleep on the couch. So I'll be downstairs if you need me." Holly straightens up, almost falling on top of Gail when the woman grasps at her wrist.

"Stay," Gail looks up at her through lidded eyes. "Please?"

Holly resists the urge to sigh at herself because really, Gail Peck could ask her for anything and she would give it to her. "OK," Gail smiles brightly up at her. "I'm just going to make sure the front door is locked and turn out the lights downstairs." Gail pouts when she realizes Holly won't be joining her immediately. "Don't pout." Holly chuckles. "I'll be back in five minutes. Promise."

"Five minutes," Gail repeats with a pointed look.

"Yes, Officer."

* * *

When Holly re-enters her bedroom exactly five minutes later she finds sleepy eyes watching her.

"Hey," Holly breathes as she walks to the bed. She eases under the covers, turning on her side to face Gail. "I thought you'd be asleep already."

"Mmh," Gail hums. "Was waiting for you." She mumbles.

"Well here I am." Holly can barely make out the tired smile on Gail's face in the dark. "Sleep Gail. You've had a rough day."

"M'K," Gail scoots closer, wrapping an arm around the pathologist's waist and burying her face against Holly's chest. "Night, Hol,"

"Good night Gail," Holly wraps her arms around Gail's back, letting the woman's slow, even breaths lull her to sleep.


End file.
